Wel­come to our an­nual round-up of loppets and marathons across North Amer­ica with an em­pha­sis on par­tic­i­pa­tion and fun.

This Clas­sic-only lop­pet in eastern B.C. marks its 33rd an­niver­sary in 2017. Be­gin­ning in 1985 as the Larch Hills Marathon, it was re-named in 1987 to hon­our Reino Keski-salmi, a Cana­dian of Fin­nish des­cent who ex­celled in cross-coun­try races, but died trag­i­cally in a 1985 he­li­copter crash. Both com­pet­i­tive and recre­ational skiers are wel­come to this event, which has been af­fil­i­ated with the Heart & Stroke Foun­da­tion since its in­cep­tion. Dis­tances vary from 1km for par­tic­i­pants un­der age of four to 34km for se­niors, while para-nordic en­trants can choose their dis­tance. 250-832-8676; info@ski­larch­hills.ca.

Re­named the Nordic Lop­pet Week­end, these two back-to-back loppets, co-hosted by Nipika Mountain Re­sort and Toby Creek Nordic Ski Club, are now part of the Koote­nay Cup. It fea­tures a 30km Clas­sic lop­pet on the Satur­day, fol­lowed by a 20km freestyle lop­pet on Sun­day. These fam­ily-friendly events also fea­ture recre­ational dis­tances of 15km on Satur­day and 10km on Sun­day, as well as youth and chil­dren's dis­tances. Trails fol­low the Koote­nay and Cross rivers; ex­pect some chal­leng­ing climbs and tech­ni­cal de­scents in­ter­spersed with nice flats and beau­ti­ful views. Awards and a post-race bar­be­cue are fea­tured on both days. 877-647-4525/250-342-6516; info@nipika.com; http://nipika.com/ nipika-mountain-re­sort-lop­pet/.

Founded in 1967, the Cana­dian Ski Marathon (CSM) will cel­e­brate its 51th an­niver­sary in 2017. North Amer­ica's long­est and old­est Nordic ski fes­ti­val, the CSM hosts ap­prox­i­mately 2,000 skiers each year for a two-day, 160km Clas­sic-only event through the Lau­ren­tian Mountains of western Que­bec. It is not a race, and skiers can choose to ski from 12km to 160km over the week­end. Skiers of all ages and abil­i­ties are wel­come, with events rang­ing from the CSM Taster, de­signed for lop­pet be­gin­ners, right up to the Coureur des Bois Gold cat­e­gory that re­quires par­tic­i­pants to ski the en­tire 160km while car­ry­ing a 5kg pack and sleep out­doors on the Satur­day night. CSM: 1-877-770-6556; ski@csm-mcs.com; csm-mcs.com.

Fea­tur­ing dis­tances of 4km, 7km, 11km, 13km, 27km and 60km for both Clas­sic and freestyle events, the Bo­real's sig­na­ture 103km event – billed as “the long­est one-day Nordic race world­wide” – will again not be held in 2017. This year fea­tures two fat­bike races, 16km and 32km, to be held fol­low­ing the de­par­ture of the last skiers. 418-587-4160; info@bo­re­al­lop­pet. ca; bo­re­al­lop­pet.ca.

6. Gatineau Lop­pet Feb. 17-19, Gatineau, Que. (near Ot­tawa, Ont.)

Founded in 1977, the Gatineau Lop­pet is billed as “Canada's big­gest in­ter­na­tional cross-coun­try ski­ing event”; it is also Canada's most pres­ti­gious lop­pet. Held in Gatineau Park, ap­prox­i­mately 3,000 skiers will par­tic­i­pate over three days of rac­ing that fea­ture Clas­sic (5km, 15km, 27km and 51km) and freestyle (10km, 27km and 51km) cour­ses, as well as a Mini 2km race for chil­dren. Sun­day, Feb. 19 sees snow­shoe races (2.5km, 5km and 10km). Both of the Gatineau Lop­pet's Clas­sic and freestyle 51km cour­ses are part of the World­lop­pet Se­ries and are sanc­tioned by Cross Coun­try Canada for the Cana­dian Points List. The Gatineau Lop­pet also serves as the Cana­dian Long Dis­tance Lop­pet Cham­pi­onship. Reg­is­ter on­line or on­site that week­end: 819-778-5014, ext. 232; info@gatineaulop­pet.com; gatineaulop­pet.com.

Or­ga­nized by the Cal­laghan Val­ley Cross Coun­try Ski Club, the Sigge's “P'ayak” events fea­ture the Clas­sic or freestyle (15km, 30km and 50km), the Clas­sic sit-ski 10km and the Clas­sic or freestyle youth 15km. There are also ac­tiv­i­ties for chil­dren 4-14. P'ayak­entsut means “a place to train one­self phys­i­cally” in the lo­cal Squamish lan­guage, and is the in­spi­ra­tion be­hind this event, now in its fifth an­nual edi­tion. Main lop­pet events re­main on the Satur­day, with the chil­dren's events on the Sun­day. The race cour­ses be­gin in the same sta­dium used for the 2010 Van­cou­ver Win­ter Olympics and fol­low trails used for the Olympic biathlon com­pe­ti­tion. Sigge's P'ayak is proud to be a qual­i­fier for the pres­ti­gious Amer­i­can Birke­beiner. 604-962-1290; info@payak.ca; payak.ca.

8. Don Allen Saskalop­pet March 3-4, La Ronge, Sask.

This year marks the 34rd an­nual Don Allen Saskalop­pet, Saskatchewan's pre­mier lop­pet. In 1970, Don Allen and his friends had a dream, so they formed the La Ronge Ski Club, started a rac­ing team and founded the Saskalop­pet. Allen's ski spirit lives on with lop­pet par­tic­i­pants re­turn­ing an­nu­ally, while com­mu­nity groups dress up in out­landish cos­tumes or of­fer orig­i­nal snacks. The tour and/or race cat­e­gories range from 5km, 8km, 13km, 20km, 35km and 45km up to 75km for the Ku­pe­sewin Marathon and Sasquatch (com­pleted over two days with overnight camp­ing). Saskalop­pet Com­mit­tee: 306-425-2807; reg­is­ter at zone4.ca; laronges­ki­club.ca.

Cel­e­brat­ing its 40th an­niver­sary, the Sleeping Gi­ant Lop­pet at Kamview Nordic Cen­tre of­fers recre­ational and com­pet­i­tive skiers a va­ri­ety of dis­tances, in­clud­ing the fam­ily-friendly 8km mini-lop­pet, a 20km scenic ski route cir­cling Marie Louise Lake, a 35km course that is both scenic and chal­leng­ing, as well as the 50km Clas­sic or freestyle events. For 2017, cash prizes are back and will awarded in the 50km freestyle event. Also the first fe­male and male in five-year age cat­e­gories will re­ceive a unique 2017 Lop­pet toque. All this is fol­lowed by a pan­cake-break­fast awards cer­e­mony on Sun­day. The park is named af­ter a large rock for­ma­tion that re­sem­bles a sleeping gi­ant. 807-629-0649; info@sleep­ing­giant­lop­pet.ca; sleep­ing­giant­lop­pet.ca.

The Wa­bos Lop­pet be­gins in the lum­ber town of Wa­bos. There, skiers be­gin an un­in­ter­rupted 27km course that leads through the woods over two lakes and sev­eral beaver ponds to Shep­pard Lake, where tea and or­anges are served. The rest of the course is on groomed cross-coun­try trails lead­ing to Norm's Cabin at the edge of Bone Lake, where skiers en­joy re­fresh­ments of tea and cook­ies. The last part of the trip takes par­tic­i­pants to Stokely Creek Lodge for a fes­tive cel­e­bra­tory bar­be­cue and live en­ter­tain- ment. Please note that par­tic­i­pants will no longer be picked up by bus from Sault Ste. Marie and must con­tinue to Stokely, where am­ple park­ing is avail­able. 866-786-5359 or 705-649-3421; info@stoke­ly­creek.com; www. stoke­ly­creek.com.

11. Fis­cher Lop­pet Fes­ti­val March 4, Bar­rie, Ont.

The an­nual Hard­wood Fis­cher Lop­pet fea­tures cour­ses for the 15km and 30km freestyle and Clas­sic events rolled into one amaz­ing day of rac­ing, with chil­dren's races in the af­ter­noon. This lop­pet is a favourite of rac­ers of all ages to work to­ward all win­ter. The new course fea­tures a mix of gen­tle rolling and chal­leng­ing ter­rain through the forests of Oro Me­donte and is suited to skiers of all lev­els and abil­i­ties. There will also be Fis­cher ski-tun­ing, wax­ing and equip­ment demos. Af­ter the races, par­tic­i­pants are treated to a huge spread of food dur­ing the prize cer­e­mony. Hard­wood re­ceives more than 300cm of snow each sea­son and fea­tures trails with great groom­ing. 800-387-3775; info@hard­wood­skiand­bike.ca; hard­wood­skiand­bike.ca.

12. PAL Great Labrador Lop­pet April 1, Labrador City, Nfld.

A pres­ti­gious and pop­u­lar com­mu­nity event, the PAL Great Labrador Lop­pet is hosted by the Meni­hek Nordic Ski Club in the beau­ti­ful Labrador wilder­ness. This year will be the 42nd edi­tion. Skiers and snow­shoers, young and old, can par­tic­i­pate in one of three events – 10km, 28km or 50 km, what­ever your plea­sure. The Lop­pet kicks off in Fer­mont, Que. and fin­ishes in Labrador City, New­found­land and Labrador. The trail is groomed for both Clas­sic and free tech­niques with re­fresh­ment sta­tions po­si­tioned along the way. A 5km trail will be in­tro­duced to par­tic­i­pants for the 2017 edi­tion. A post-race ban­quet fea­tures award pre­sen­ta­tions, a de­li­cious steak sup­per and the op­por­tu­nity to dance the night away. 709944-5842 or 709-944-1802; meni­hek@nf.aibn.com.

This event fea­tures fab­u­lous scenery on the trails at the Mount Wash­ing­ton Nordic Cen­tre, a ski des­ti­na­tion with unique at­trac­tions that in­clude deep snow­packs, ocean views and old-growth for­est in pic­turesque Strath­cona Park. In 2017, more than 200 par­tic­i­pants are ex­pected to at­tend the 35th an­nual Lop­pet. Fea­tured dis­tances in­clude 2km Cookie, 5km youth, 15km recre­ational or 30km freestyle events. This year will also in­tro­duce a 5km and 10km snow­shoe event and a ski play­ground with or­ga­nized ac­tiv­i­ties that will keep the kids busy while par­ents are out ski­ing the Lop­pet. Reg­is­tra­tion opens on Feb. 20 on web­scorer.com. info@ strath­co­nanordics.com; strath­co­nanordics.com.

The UP Health Sys­tem No­que­manon Ski Marathon is a 50km Clas­sic, freestyle and re­lay ski race, tak­ing skiers from Ish­pem­ing to Mar­quette on Jan. 28. The same day, there are 24km and 12km Clas­sic, freestyle and snow­shoe races us­ing part of the No­que­manon course. The course is spec­tac­u­lar, with gran­ite out­crop­pings, Lake Su­pe­rior vis­tas, plen­ti­ful snow, a wa­ter­fall, a 1,000-foot des­cent over the last 25 kilo­me­tres and friendly vol­un­teers. There are chil­dren's races on Fri­day, while Sun­day (Jan. 29) sees fat­bike, ski­jor (one or two dogs) and snow­shoe races. 866-370-RACE; info@no­que­manon.com; no­que­manon.com.

15. Crafts­bury Marathon Jan. 28, Crafts­bury Com­mon, Vt.

Now in its 36th year, the Crafts­bury Marathon is the pre­mier ski event of the East, fea­tur­ing 16.5km, 33km and 50km Clas­sic-only races and a 33km tour­ing di­vi­sion. For 2017, the marathon course is a 16.5km loop start­ing and fin­ish­ing at the Crafts­bury Out­door Cen­ter Ski Sta­dium. Ex­ten­sive trail work has been done over the past sev­eral sea­sons to up­grade the en­tire course so that it can be groomed by a Pis­ten­bully. There are feed sta­tions ev­ery four to seven kilo­me­tres, and af­ter the fin­ish, all par­tic­i­pants are treated to a hearty post-race meal and awards. This event is part of the pres­ti­gious Amer­i­can Ski Marathon Se­ries and the New Eng­land Marathon Se­ries. For many years, it has been pro­claimed by the State Cham­ber of Com­merce as one of the top-10 win­ter events in Ver­mont. 802-5867677; stay@crafts­bury.com;crafts­bury.com/ski­ing/marathon/home.htm.

Start­ing at Idaho's rus­tic Galena Lodge, the pop­u­lar 34.3km Zion's Bank Boul­der Mountain Tour (BMT), one of the short­est Amer­i­can Ski Marathon Se­ries events, par­al­lels High­way 75 as it flows steadily down to the fin­ish. Now in its 42nd year, the BMT'S course is gen­tly rolling and has an el­e­va­tion drop of 1,100 feet over its 21-mile length; spec­tac­u­lar views of the sur­round­ing mountains un­fold con­tin­u­ously with each and ev­ery turn. It is the jewel of the an­nual Sun Val­ley Nordic Fes­ti­val that runs from Jan. 29-Feb. 7. Cash prizes are awarded to the top fin­ish­ers in the men's and women's races. The 15km “Half-boul­der” event be­gins at Baker Creek and fin­ishes with the rest of the field. HALF-BMT par­tic­i­pants will have the op­tion to be timed. Sun­day sees a demo day from the BMT spon­sors. New for 2017, all reg­is­tered BMT rac­ers will re­ceive the Boul­der Pass, giv­ing free ac­cess to more than 200 kilo­me­tres of groomed trails from Feb. 2-5. boul­der­moun­tain­tour@gmail.com; boul­der­moun­tain­tour.com.

18. North Amer­i­can Vasa Feb. 11-12, Traverse City, Mich.

The 41st an­nual North Amer­i­can Vasa pre­sented by Short's Brew­ing Com­pany has made some changes for the 2017 event, with “Freestyle Satur­day” and “Clas­sic Sun­day.” All freestyle and fat­bike races will be held Satur­day, while all Clas­sic races will be held on the Sun­day. Rac­ing will also take place in the re­verse di­rec­tion of the tra­di­tional course, and in­clude new trails. Michi­gan's pre­mier cross-coun­try-ski event of­fers ath­letes of all abil­i­ties the op­por­tu­nity to ex­pe­ri­ence a won­der­ful day of ski­ing on ul­ti­mate groomed trails among tow­er­ing white pines through the pris­tine seren­ity of the Pere Mar­quette State For­est. Satur­day's events fea­ture 11km, 28km and 48km freestyle races, as well as Ju­nior Vasa events and 10km and 42km fat­bike races. Sun­day sees the 6km Clas­sic tour, along with 6km, 16km and 34km Clas­sic races, with the lat­ter two events count­ing to­ward the Michi­gan Cup. 231-633-1054; va­sainfo@vasa.org; vasa.org.

19. Mora Vasa­lop­pet Feb. 11-12, Mora, Minn.

The sig­na­ture race day is Satur­day (Feb. 11), fea­tur­ing the 58km freestyle, 42km Clas­sic, 35km freestyle, 13km Team­lop­pet and the 13km freestyle races. The first North Amer­i­can male and fe­male fin­ish­ers in the 58km race can win a free trip to Swe­den's Vasa­lop­pet or $1,000. The race fin­ishes in down­town Mora, where snow is dumped onto the town's main street. The event is the largest in Min­nesota and fea­tures gen­tly rolling wooded coun­try­side with­out steep hills. For 2017, new trails and snow­mak­ing equip­ment have been added in the event of low snow. There are also 38km and 10km fat-tire bike races on Sun­day (Feb. 12). Re­turn­ing again is the ski­jor­ing race, as well as the chil­dren's Minnlop­pet. There's also a Friend­ship Tour and Mini-lop­pet, which are all part of one of the big­gest win­ter ath­letic events in the U.S.A. 800-368-6672; in­for­ma­tion@vasa­lop­pet.org; vasa­lop­pet.us.

The Slum­ber­land Amer­i­can Birke­beiner is the long­est, most pres­ti­gious cross-coun­try-ski race in North Amer­ica and a mem­ber of the 13-na­tion World­lop­pet League. The two pre­mier events are the Swix Birkie 50km skate and 55km Clas­sic races from Tele­mark Re­sort in Ca­ble to down­town Hay­ward, Wis. Other events in­clude the 23km Kortelopet for skiers aged 13 and older, the 12km Prince Haakon, 5km fam­ily ski, snow­shoe and adap­tive (para-nordic) races, etc. Some 13,000 par­tic­i­pants are ex­pected over the week­end. 800-872-2753;birkie@birkie.com; birkie.com.

22. Lake Placid Lop­pet Feb. 25, Lake Placid, N.Y.

Since 1982, the Lake Placid Lop­pet (LPL) has es­tab­lished it­self as one of the pre­mier events of its kind in the coun­try, fea­tur­ing the chal­leng­ing Mount Van Ho­even­berg trails at the Olympic Sports Com­plex. The 34th edi­tion in­cludes 25km and 50km races for both Clas­sic and freestyle skiers, which are run on a slightly mod­i­fied ver­sion of the 50km course con­structed for the 1980 Win­ter Olympics. The three-day fes­ti­val in­cludes wax­ing and ski clin­ics, ori­en­teer­ing, a cock­tail party and Satur­day din­ner. LPL is a quali- fier for the Amer­i­can Birke­beiner and a mem­ber of the NENSA Marathon Se­ries. info@orda.com; http://www.lake­placid.com/events/34th-an­nu­al­lake-placid-lop­pet-and-kort-lop­pet.

23. Pepsi Chal­lenge March 4, Bi­wabik, Minn.

The 33rd an­nual Pepsi Chal­lenge Cup Race at Giants Ridge Golf and Ski Re­sort has a rep­u­ta­tion for world-class race trails and snow-groom­ing. The Ridge has held the World Cup, Olympic Tri­als, Na­tional Col­le­giate Finals and USA Na­tional Cham­pi­onships. The Pepsi Chal­lenge Cup is a 48km freestyle race with com­pan­ion events to ac­com­mo­date skiers at ev­ery level, in­clud­ing a 48km Clas­sic, 24km Clas­sic, 24km freestyle and Giants Ridge 10km. Part of the Amer­i­can Ski Marathon Se­ries, the event serves as a Birkie qual­i­fier. 800-688-7669 ext. 8072; pep­sichal­lenge@gi­antsridge.com; pep­sichal­lengeskirace.com/pepsi.php.

24. Yel­low­stone Ren­dezvous Race March 4, West Yel­low­stone, Mont.

Mon­tana's Yel­low­stone Ren­dezvous Race is held on the beau­ti­fully groomed, rolling ter­rain of the Ren­dezvous Ski Trails of­fer­ing fan­tas­tic scenery and snow con­di­tions. There are six dif­fer­ent races to choose from de­pend­ing on your age and abil­ity: 2km, 5km, 10km, 25km Clas­sic, 25km and 50km, all of which run con­cur­rently – skiers of all ages and abil­i­ties par­tic­i­pate ev­ery year. The course fea­tures a 25km loop start­ing at the Po­vah Com­mu­nity Cen­ter (500 yards from the west en­trance to Yel­low­stone Na­tional Park) and run­ning through the Galatin Na­tional For­est on the Con­ti­nen­tal Di­vide; with an av­er­age vis­i­bil­ity of 160 kilo­me­tres, the ter­rain is not con­sid­ered dif­fi­cult. An awards cer­e­mony will be held at the Hol­i­day Inn West Yel­low­stone. 406-646-7265; info@skirun­bikemt.com; skirun­bikemt.com.

25. Tour of An­chor­age March 5, An­chor­age, Alaska

Billed as a pre­mier ski marathon, the Tour of An­chor­age (Alaska) is part of the Amer­i­can Ski Marathon Se­ries, North Amer­ica's long­est-run­ning and largest Cit­i­zens' rac­ing and tour­ing se­ries. The Tour is a point-to-point cross-coun­try-ski marathon that is at sea level. There are four events: a 25km Clas­sic race and 25km, 40km and 50km freestyle races – you are also able to Clas­sic ski the 40km or 50km races. In each event, abil­i­ties range from top Na­tional ski rac­ers to recre­ational skiers chal­leng­ing them­selves with just go­ing the dis­tance. The 40km and 50km start on the east side of An­chor­age and go through the mid­dle of town along its bike trails. The 25km race starts in the mid­dle of town and uses the same course. All the races fin­ish at Kin­caid Park. Nordic Ski As­so­ci­a­tion of An­chor­age, 907-2767609; di­rec­tor@an­chor­agenordic­ski.com; touro­fan­chor­age.com.